Friday, June 04, 2010

Column on Pigford Claims

If the Ag Census data is correct, it still seems difficult to understand how the number of people filing Pigford claims could be more than double the number of black farmers in the U.S. Unfortunately, few people at USDA are willing to even discuss this topic for fear of appearing racist.
In the interest of transparency, it would seem helpful to have USDA provide the names and more information about who has or will be receiving payments under the Pigford cases. Adding more "sunlight" to this issue might help close another heart-wrenching chapter in farm loan history.

Unfortunately the "table" of payment data she refers to does not appear.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

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About Me

I retired from USDA in 1997 after 28 years in ASCS/FSA (the agency
that writes checks to farmers). Now indulging myself on the taxpayer's
dollar. My ancestry is strong on preaching and teaching, my views tend
to ambivalence, my temperament is often contrarian, more and more I'm
just grumpy.